Syracuse Football: 12 days of Christmas (Orange edition)

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The legacy of No. 4

Players come and go in college football, it’s the nature of the beast. But it’ll be hard for the Orange to ‘simply’ replace one of their modern all-time greats in Zaire Franklin. Undoubtedly he’ll get some looks from NFL teams at the next level because of his intangibles, awareness, and overall ability.

Over 300 career tackles, eight and a half sacks, five forced fumbles, and two interceptions in his career. A leader on and off the field and the first captain for three straight years. That shouldn’t be taken lightly. Although spoiler alert, SU will never be able to replace Franklin, but hopefully they can get a guy half as good.

But how do you ultimately replace someone who’s been so invaluable for the Syracuse football program? Well a little luck. We sat down with the man who quite literally is tasked with replacing him in Lakiem Williams.

He will not only be replacing Franklin’s position, but he’ll also don his number. If you’d like to read more about his decision to take No. 4 and to learn more about him you can do so here: Syracuse Football Recruiting Sitdown: JUCO Linebacker Lakiem Williams. It was a fantastic conversation.

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